The Strategy to move to Cloud Computing.

The time for Cloud Computing is now. All of the indicators are in place to suggest a rapid and successful migration to this newest generation of IT architecture. It is not a one-size-fits-all migration. CIOs will need to spend time exploring Cloud Computing solutions to find the combination that best responds to specific mission and business needs. Maintaining awareness of the concerns and mistakes is absolutely necessary and security remains the top concern. Security is a huge focus for IT vendors and creative, robust solutions will be constantly emerging to reduce concerns. Large organizations will increasingly turn to Enterprise Cloud Computing strategies to achieve efficiencies of Cloud Computing while reducing risks of exposure for intellectual property, customer privacy, and competitive strategies.

As a CIO, building your cloud strategy can be confusing as there are many options to consider before making a decision. Cloud Computing can deliver within a variety of characteristics. Each CIO will need to consider the characteristics of primary importance in order to properly center a strategy. For example, determining your needs for rapid elasticity, on-demand self-service, global access, and payment options will be necessary to develop the right strategy. The second consideration for a CIO is just how far up the stack she wants to go. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS) each deliver different features and capabilities for your business. You can develop a plan that includes some or all of the Services. Finally, a CIO needs to think about the deployment model(s) that best fit her business (Public, Private, Community, and Hybrid).